SCHOLAR AND FOOTBALLER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18663, 20 March 1924, Page 4

SCHOLAR AND FOOTBALLER.

NEW ZEALANDER HONOURED. AITKEN IN SCOTTISH TEAM. fur 'telegraph.— OWN- COURESPONDENT.] fUX TELEGRAPH. —OW.Y CO U RESPONDENT.] CHRISTCHURCH. -Wednesday. Mr. G. Aitken, of Wcstport, has received word that his son, G. G. Aitken, the " New Zealand Rhodes • scholar for 1922, has won his Scottish international rugby cap. George Aitken played against Wales at Inverleith, when the Scottish team won by 35 points to 10. Thus he adds his name to the brief list of New Zealanders who' have won rugby interI national honours on both sides of the globe.

Aitken 'was an All Black before he" went to Oxford. He captained the New Zealand side which defeated the Springboks in the first test match at Dunedin in 1921. Previously he had led Victoria University College, Wellington, and New Zealand University teams. That Aitken was given his chance for Scotland, for Which land he qualified by ancestry, indicates a volte face on tfco part of the Scottish Rugby Union bines lass ywr. The West Coaster after being given a game in the Scottish trials, was ruled out from the final "selection by the* union's decision not to play any man who already had won international rank in another country. £ The only other New Zealand Rhodes scholar to reach the top of »the rugby ladder in both hemispheres was 0. M. Gilbray, of the University of Ofcago, who played, for New Zealand before his election to , the scholarship and . represented Scotland in 1908, 1909 and 19.12.